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Music & Musical Instruments

The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.

This banjo was made by an unknown maker in the United States around 1835-1865. It has undergone considerable scrutiny and analysis at the Smithsonian because of its attribution to American slave origins. So far, studies have been inconclusive. While the sun design carved on the body may have African origins, the polygonal shape, wood top (instead of a skin), and carved head pegbox lie outside the traditions of banjos brought to America by Africans. Nevertheless, the instrument was likely made by someone familiar with Black culture.

Custom-made in 1989 by the Minneapolis, Minn., firm of Knut-Koupee Enterprises, this Yellow-cloud electric guitar was designed and used by Prince. The musician's distinctive personal symbol adorns both the top and the side of the fingerboard. Custom work for famous instrumentalists and musicians provides an important marketing tool for small-scale guitar makers.

This electric-acoustic guitar was made for Sears around 1962 by companies like Danelectro and Harmony. Silvertone guitars were popular because of their solid construction and inexpensive pricing.

This guitar was owned and played by Jesse Fuller (1896-1976), a one-man-band folk and blues singer from the San Francisco Bay area who accompanied his guitar-playing with singing, harmonica, percussion, and a foot-operated bass instrument called a fotdella. Fuller played guitar as a child but didn’t become a professional musician until the early 1950s. As a songwriter, Fuller is best known for his songs, “San Francisco Bay Blues” and “Beat It on Down the Line.”

Jesse Fuller purchased this Silvertone guitar in 1962, from a Detroit Sears, after his original Maurer guitar was stolen and he needed another guitar to be able to make his playing engagement that evening.

This banjo was made by William Boucher, Jr. in Baltimore, Maryland in 1845. Boucher was a drum maker and musical instrument dealer. He became the first commercial maker of banjos, perhaps through his association with the celebrated minstrel banjoist Joel Walker Sweeney.

Boucher's instruments were important in standardizing the form of the banjo in its transition from a home-made rural instrument to urban, commercial manufacture. The basic shape and string arrangement has changed little up to the present day. Boucher’s design copied important features of earlier home-made African American instruments: the skin head, short thumb string and fretless neck. He added a scrolled peghead similar to those used by guitar makers W. Stauffer and C.F. Martin, and replaced the traditional gourd body with a thin, bentwood rim construction with screw-tightening brackets similar to that used for drum heads. Boucher’s innovations were well-adapted to commercial mass-production and urban musical tastes, and played a large part in the subsequent worldwide enthusiasm for the banjo.

These commercial “improvements’ were never adopted by many traditional rural musicians, who continued to make good sounding instruments that were entirely adequate for their musical needs from locally available materials, at little or no expense.

This sheet music is for the song “Virginia Rose Bud” as part of a collection of “Ethiopian Melodies.” The music was published by E. Ferrett & Company of Philadelphia in the middle of the 19th century. Ethiopian melodies were songs that were part of the culture surrounding the blackface performances in minstrel shows that were popular at this time.

This bust of American composer and musician Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899 - 1974) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1988. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Ellington in a suit and bowtie, arms in a conducting pose, atop a stylized keyboard.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.

This bust of American composer and saxophonist Charles "Charlie" Parker, Jr. (1920 - 1955) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1990. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Parker’s head, neck and hands, playing a saxophone, on a base of saxophones and a stylized keyboard.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.

This bust of American jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benjamin David "Benny" Goodman (1909 - 1986) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1990. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Goodman’s head and hands, playing a clarinet, on a swirl of bronze on a stone base.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.

This bust of American jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong (1901 - 1971) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1990. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Armstrong’s torso and hands, playing a trumpet with handkerchief in left hand, on a stone base.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.

This bust of American jazz trumpeter, musician, bandleader, and composer Miles Dewey Davis III (1926 - 1991) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1990. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Davis’ torso, playing a trumpet, wearing a jacket and sunglasses, on a wood base.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.